Side impact events in vehicles have been identified as one of the top priorities for both research and regulation with government requirements continuing to become more stringent. Continued development and progress in side impact systems has significant real world benefit. Current systems primarily use airbags and static door bolsters to promote early occupant contact and to limit forces transmitted to the occupant. Early engagement of the pelvis has been shown to be an effective side impact strategy. Traditional pelvic side impact airbags design for this purpose have limitations in achieving optimal stiffness, coverage and positioning due to challenges associated with deployment in very narrow spaces (<3-4 inches) and within extreme timing constraints (<5-10 ms). Conversely, static pelvic door bolsters are limited in their effectiveness to provide early engagement of the pelvis because they rely on door intrusion to bring the surface of the bolster in contact with the pelvis.
The introduction of pre-crash sensor systems poses opportunities for improvement in the deployment of traditional side airbags. However, in order to take full advantage of the additional time afforded by pre-crash sensors, a decision to deploy may need to be made with less than 100% confidence of an event. In this situation, traditional airbags again have limitations as they are not reversible or resettable in the event they are deployed pre-crash for an impact that does not actually occur.
Accordingly, as in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is room in the art of pelvic bolster design for an alternative configuration to known pelvic bolster structures which provides effective protection that can be adapted to a variety of shapes while maintaining relatively low manufacturing and assembly costs.